27/3/17 Update: Check out The Ultimate Cheatsheet To Redeem Krisflyer Miles For Award Ticket !!! for more updates on the latest redemption changes.
When Singapore Airlines announced the Important Changes to Flight Redemption, we are totally thrilled to see what they have to offer. After all, we had been building up our miles conscientiously for a next holiday.
All the boxes highlighted in red are marked out by us as the surge in miles in the new Saver award chart. Although the ones that are not highlighted remained the same, we no longer enjoy that 15% discount.
When Singapore Airlines announced the Important Changes to Flight Redemption, we are totally thrilled to see what they have to offer. After all, we had been building up our miles conscientiously for a next holiday.
As a summary, there will be 3 changes made to their redemption bookings on and after 23 March 2017.
 |
| Click image to enlarge size |
To market these changes as a positive one, Singapore Airlines had gave us examples on how there is a significant change in airfare redemption and cash payment through the use of countries with high fuel and insurance surcharge.
For tickets departing from Singapore, we saw a noticeable increase in miles required for travel to Zone 7 (Japan/Korea), Zone 9 (Australia, excluding Perth and Darwin and New Zealand.), Zone 11 (Europe), Zone 12 (US, West Coast) and Zone 13 (US, East Coast and Houston).
 |
| Singapore Airbus 330 Image grabbed from https://www.singaporeair.com |
So is this revision to our advantage or is it not?
For tickets departing from Singapore, we saw a noticeable increase in miles required for travel to Zone 7 (Japan/Korea), Zone 9 (Australia, excluding Perth and Darwin and New Zealand.), Zone 11 (Europe), Zone 12 (US, West Coast) and Zone 13 (US, East Coast and Houston).
To help us to understand this changes further, we tried working our sums using the Singapore-Tokyo (NRT) flight. Here are the results.
Although there are savings in the fuel and insurance surcharge, there is a significant jump in the amount of miles required for redemption. It is also an incremental increase when we put the Economy, Business and First Class redemption details side by side.
 |
| Singapore Airline's Premium Economy Class Image grabbed from https://www.singaporeair.com/ |
Our thoughts towards these changes:
- For long haul flights to Europe or USA, increasing the ticket mileage claims will deter people from redeeming due to the devaluation of the miles. Therefore, it may end up making more sense to purchase a ticket instead.
- With respect to the above mentioned zones (Zone 7, 9, 11, 12, 13), the increase in mileage required for Economy and Business may also steer people to book Premium Economy instead as there is no surge in mileage required for Premium Economy. Our guess is that the take up rate and demand for Premium Economy is not high for now. With the increased demand for comfortable seats, especially for long haul flights, we may expect revision to Premium Economy redemption in the near future.
- Although there is no revised changes in miles redemption for short haul flights to regional countries, there will still be an overall increase in miles needed for redemption as they have removed the 15% discount.
- The topic of fuel and insurance surcharge had always been a topic of discussion, especially since prices of oil had been dropping. In fact, there is a whole list of airlines who have already omitted their fuel surcharges and we think it's high time SIA joined them in the list. (especially reading about how SIA announced a 119% surge in net profit due to the steep decline in oil prices).
- Bearing in mind that Krisflyer miles will expire 3 years at the end of the equivalent month in which they were earned (For example, miles credited to a member's KrisFlyer account in July 2014 will expire on 31 July 2017) and that now you will need more time to accumulate more miles, probably I will reconsider tapping on my AMEX Krisflyer Ascend Credit Card for miles accumulation.
Personally, we will say a NAY to this change. With the increase in miles required for redemption, it also means that more spending are required on our miles accumulation avenues - be it spending through credit card or paying full price for a trip via Star Alliance flights.
If you have an upcoming trip in mind, our recommendation is for you to secure your ticket before the change on 23rd March 2017.
Note: Information provided above are of our own opinions towards the changes in Krisflyer Redemption. Any facts are backed with relevant links given in the article itself.. All photos are credited to Mr and Mrs OOPS, except stated otherwise. Follow @mrandmrsoops and @djoops on Instagram for more instant updates. Not sponsored or affiliated.
If you have an upcoming trip in mind, our recommendation is for you to secure your ticket before the change on 23rd March 2017.
Note: Information provided above are of our own opinions towards the changes in Krisflyer Redemption. Any facts are backed with relevant links given in the article itself.. All photos are credited to Mr and Mrs OOPS, except stated otherwise. Follow @mrandmrsoops and @djoops on Instagram for more instant updates. Not sponsored or affiliated.
Good luck,
Mr and Mrs OOPS
Comments
Post a Comment